Philzone.org - Philzone Phansite Community Discussion Board: Setlists and Reviews: Non GD Related Reviews: Archive: Strings for Industry/Nershi, Montana Slim 5/10/09

Been wanting to put up a review of this show but just haven't found the time this week, so here's the abridged version.

Montana Slim String Band, a four piece bluegrass outfit local to SF, opened the show. I've heard lots of good things about them so I was stoked when they got added to the bill! My first Slim show gets a big thumbs up! I can't wait to see more of them. First thing I noticed was the fiddle player-- You think Allie Kral is hot? Just wait until you see Turi She does a great job representing women on stage! Second thing I noticed was the bass player wasn't playing an upright bass, that tends to be the norm. He was playing an acoustic bass, it sounded real good, clear and low! I'm looking forward to becoming more familiar with them! It's so easy to support local music in the bay area when we've got talent like these guys! Now that Hot Buttered Rum is Hot Buttered Drum, I'm happy to discover a new band that has the more traditional bluegrass sound. They capped off their set with an smoking I Know You Rider, in honor of our friends down at Shoreline!

As for Strings for Industry, I adore Scott Law, Darol Anger always leaves me wanting more and my roots run deep, I love Bill Nershi! Unfortunately, String for Industry is my least favorite project any of these guys are involved in. I like the idea, I definitely support artists trying things outside their norm...but for me, this band falls short. Side projects should be fun and different but this band just never seems to hit the sweet spot. Individually, I like what each musician is doing, Darol sounded great, Nershi played some sweet lap slide. Carlton the Drummer and Tye North on bass brought the funk but somehow the sum of the parts just didn't make for complete sound.

They played a bunch of Honkytonk Homeslice material, with Jillian Nershi sitting in on vocals, she was a welcome addition. None of the shrill, ear splitting sounds she often gets accused of. She blended well and was never over bearing. The highlight for me was the unexpected Jellyfish, it was a sweet little treat!

Dexter's Doom Garage was another highlight of the night, a new tune off the soon to be released Strings for Industry album. It was dark and funky, just like you want it to be! I think the band benefits from having it's own songs, helps them to find their own sound better than trying to adapt material from their other projects.

Where was this show at???

Slim's

Darol was behind the pole...so it was kinda funny, most of the crowd squished into this one small area because it was the place where you could see everyone without the pole getting in the way. I had to laugh -- the distribution of the room was so skewed with empty space on the left, super crowded on the right, I wondered if the musicians noticed it, it was really odd if you didn't know what was going on.